that means johnson is capable of bringing in an ally of monsterous proportion. the mechanics of the stock market itself. the buyers in the stock market are able to take stock and put away. the short sellers have to borrow stock from the owners to sell it, and then hopefully buy it back for a profit. if the shorts can't borrow the stock first, they will be forced to cover, wall street speak for buying it back, and closing out the position. i have been in that position, as a short seller, where i couldn't find stock and the broker doing the trade literally went into the open market, bought the stock back that i had shorted and closed out my short position at much higher prices than i shorted it at. it was vicious. it crushed my quarter. but it was legal. i was helpless to stop this activity because i was short. i couldn't find the shares to borrow to those who were buying it. hey, it's against the rules. if loeb and his allies buy stock and if johnson steps in with that aggressive buyback from herbalife, i believe the same thing that happened to me could happen to